Police Wednesday launched a crackdown on train ticket scalping on the Internet, as tens of thousands of students prepare to return to school for the fall semester beginning in September.
Ticket scalping was resurfacing on the Internet and public security, network supervision and railway police bureaus were cooperating in clamping down on it, the Ministry of Public Security said Wednesday.
The ministry ordered network supervision departments to monitor sales of tickets on the Internet 24 hours a day. A hotline for public complaints and information gathering has also been set up.
Tickets scalping is illegal in China. Touts do business both online and offline, so railway police should take the initiative, said the ministry.
The ministry urged an all-out effort to target gangs and wipe out scalpers, especially in areas where there were large numbers of student passengers.
"Once scalpers show up, they have to be cleaned up," the ministry said.
In recent years, reselling of tickets over the Internet via websites such as taobao.com and piao.com has flourished in China, with touts advertising for potential buyers by posting messages.
The supply of railway tickets in China often fails to meet demand because of the country's large population, and scalpers take advantage to earn big money. Every year during the Spring Festival exodus, many people cannot obtain tickets from authorized outlets and are forced to buy from scalpers at high prices.
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263 Registration Number: 130349 
